Aftermath of a second 2-1 victory over Detroit: Niemi’s numbers, snow in forecast, Eager’s afterthoughts

It’s only two games, not four. But the numbers that Antti Niemi have put up Friday night and Sunday afternoon against Detroit have to be deja vu all over again for his teammates, only this time in a good way.

Last year, Niemi had a .965 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against average in helping the Chicago Blackhawks sweep the Sharks out of the Western Conference finals.

His numbers against Detroit so far? A .966 save percentage and a 1.00 GAA.

Advertisement

“I like to have him on our side a lot better and he’s a guy you want to play for,” Dany Heatley said in the winning locker room. “He works hard in practice and he works hard in the game. Great goalie, great guy.”

Again, it’s only two games.

Todd McLellan said he wasn’t at all surprised by the solid back-to-back
efforts by Niemi (even after that inconsistency against Los Angeles).

“Maybe because of his numbers in the first series, people outside our locker room got a little panicky about this guy, but he’s a solid goaltender and plays extremely well,” the coach said.

“We needed him six of the first 10 minutes when we were shorthanded and he made some very good saves,” McLellan continued. “The momentum swing there, the ability to play with the lead finally was due in large part to his ability to stop the puck on the penalty kill.”

*****Snow showers in San Jose? Well, indoors, yes, and the Red Wings are not happy about it.

“They’re trying to get under my skin, and I know that,” Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard said. “But I’m not going to let them.”

That heavy tap on Joe Thornton’s ankle might belie that, but that’s what he said.

And, yes, Howard thinks it’s no accident when he gets doused.

Advertisement

Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said they complained to the referees several times about the snow showers without any effect.

And while Mike Babcock had little to say about the Sharks gamesmanship, he made his point.

“Every time I make a comment about any of that stuff, it’s come back to bite me in the butt,” Babcock said. “But I think that’s a really good question.”

Todd McLellan’s stand on the subject was craftily constructed.

“When it comes to snow showers, I have no time for gimmicks and that type of crap. If our players are doing that, they’re going to hear from me first,” he said. “But they’re going to hear from me even more when they don’t go to the net and stop on a loose puck.

“If you go back and look at them, the pucks are bobbling around,” McLellan continued. “They get to choose. They know it’s not a circus and it’s not about a clown show. We want them going to the blue paint, just like the other team is.”

And here’s what Patrick Marleau had to say about Howard getting sprayed: “Obviously he’s a competitor and took it a little personal there and got a couple whacks at our guys. But we’ve got to continue to go there.”

Eager took exception to Bertuzzi’s hit on Heatley along the boards and confronted the Red Wing player in front of the Detroit bench. The door opened, Eager tumbled inside and both players were handed roughing penalties at 6:36 of the second period.

“That’s what happens in playoffs,” Eager said. “It’s pretty intense.”

As both left the penalty box, they began jawing with each other. When Eager appeared to drop his gloves and Bertuzzi didn’t, the San Jose player was given a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

“I dropped one glove,” the Sharks left wing said before getting a verbal shot of his own in: “I’ve seen that call from those guys before so it’s nothing surprising – especially when it’s on NBC.”

McLellan didn’t seem fazed by the episode.

“Ben’s an important part of our team,” he said. “He has a role to fulfill. He’s a big, physical guy. He gets in some scrums every now and then. He understands his job. We won the game tonight and he was part of it.”

McLellan also was asked if he though that some of the hatred that people said was lacking at the start of the series might be there now.

“I don’t like that word. It’s a competitive hard series between two very good teams. Hatred — everybody gets a little pissed off, if you will, at the opponent at certain times for whatever reason,” he said. “There’s a ton of emotion in the game and that’s what makes it great. I don’t see that going away at all.”

*****That emotion may not be going away, but I am. Time to think about packing for the flight to Detroit in the morning.

Not sure what the update situation here will be. The team isn’t practicing at all on Monday so there may not be much to add until the following day.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Post navigation

I admit, I like seeing the snow showers. Loved the angle they had from in the net behind Coward on one of them. Really a great shot to see the snow spraying all around him.

Nice to see the series a bit testy. Getting to Coward with snowy moments is going to make the guy lose it one of these games. Game 3 would be a good time for that.

GP

maxx,

Amazing how you slithered socialism into a hockey discussion. Marx and Saul Alinsky would be proud of you.

But, the discussion of Mike Rathje…he didn’t use his size? Since you brought it up. What obviously FOOLED you about Rathje not using his size is because often, the offense he was defending was not checked hard against the boards to make a big crashing sound that just amazes “particular” hockey fans.

The rest of you opinion of “Rat” or Wallin is moot. If you didn’t see that opposing players had trouble getting to the net, or, “free” from being pinned along the boards then, I fear there isn’t any hope of a valid opinion, IMO.

Wallin isn’t close to being as good as Mike Rathje was, IMO. DSutter thought “Rat” was a top 5 in the league. Wallin isn’t that. But, like others here, your opinion is distorted purely because of his contract.

HINT: Players DON’T get paid to play in the post season (besides the token NHL prize money, which is not worth mentioning).

GP

DP/ME,

I see no reason why my last comment in this thread is in moderation. Thanks.

Chris

The key to Wallin’s goal was the bumbling ineptitude of Detroit #44 who got himself in no-man’s land at center ice–neither in a passing lane nor preventing a break down the wing. He stood like a pylon as Wallin sped past him along the boards. He wasn’t even close enough to foul Wallin.
—

Agree. Mush was out of position .. even though the goal was a soft one and should have been stopped, no reason Wallin should be able to cruise past Bert untouched..

GP

Chris, I agree it was a goal that should have been stopped/saved.

But, IMO, not a soft goal.

The shot was glove side above the shoulder near Howard’s ear. This is NOT, again, IMO, a slam dunk at the speeds these shoot, even a wrister.

I was impressed that Howard got a glove on the puck actually.

Mosie

Yes, Cherry did call out the Wings for not standing up for Howard after the repeated snow showers. He also called the Sharks ‘bush league’ for doing it and said that the refs should call a penalty to end ‘that nonsense’.

Mosie

#61: . If TMac dresses Eager, Ben better play the physical game much more intelligently.

What’s to complain about? True, he could have easily been sent twice for penalties that gave Detroit power plays, but they didn’t call him for either one. As it was, 1 minute TOI, 12 penalty minutes, and he kept a Detroit player who actually has hockey skills off the ice for 2 minutes. I think that’s pretty intelligent.

http://zdrescher.tumblr.com Israshark

“I’ve seen that call from those guys before so it’s nothing surprising – especially when it’s on NBC.”

Is Eags suggesting that the fix was in? Is this an “Angel of Stern” – type scenario like in the NBA?

GoDIF

Looks like Niclas Wallin has signed with a swedish Elitserie club, Lulea, for next year so he will leave after this year

http://qow2aasthiz.com Jolyn Unick

Thanks for the info on that. I wrote it off as yet another expense, but I am going to take a look at it yet again.